Obama on Syria: Following from behindOut of the corner of my eye, as I was passing a television, I saw a plane fly into a building. The sound was not on, and I thought, it must be a small plane and a small building. An errant pilot or a plane with failing equipment that crashed when it intended to land. I was wrong. It was Sept. 11, 2001, and what I had seen out of the corner of my eye were the first moments of a coordinated terrorist attack on our country. The devastation and de...

Arkansas speaks on SyriaWhen the country is considering military action — no matter how limited we’re all promised it will be — everything else takes a back seat. That’s been the case regarding Syria throughout Arkansas and across the country, and as we’ve seen, it matters what the public believes. In eastern Arkansas’ 1st District, Rep. Rick Crawford’s office said Tuesday of more than 700 phone calls his office had received, more than 99 percent had been opposed to ...

Citizens should make ethics a major issue in District 21 special electionOne of the best things the voters in Arkansas Senate District 21 could do for the state is to make ethics a primary issue in the special election to replace an incumbent who resigned on ethical grounds. Since I’m one of those voters, here’s a start. District 21 covers the western half of Craighead County, including my hometown of Jonesboro. Until Paul Bookout’s resignation on Aug. 20, the Bookout name had been magic in Jonesboro politics since...

Clinton praises private optionPresident Bill Clinton was given a tall order. Speaking last week at the presidential center bearing his name, he had the task of presenting a case for public acceptance of the still-unpopular Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. But part of his argument has the potential to undo a state compromise that allowed Arkansas to expand Medicaid. Clinton was an obvious choice for the herculean task — a popular hometown Southern Democrat sellin...

Dear Mark...Dear Mark: Syria is a huge mess, with a civil war that could easily become a regional conflict if something drastic isn’t done. I don’t have the answer, but I also don’t have all of those presidential advisors. What should the United States do, and do we intervene? — War Weary Wanda Dear Weary: My first thought is to elect a new president but that’s more of a pipe dream than a practical solution to the Syrian crisis. As for a “proportional” in...

It all comes so natural for T. Graham BrownI marveled (once again) recently at how smooth this guy is, both on the stage and off. We’ve had the pleasure of watching Brown work several times over the years and have always come away totally impressed. Certainly, that was the case once again in a take-no-prisoners set at the Branson Landing before about 5,000 jammed, but contented fans. Watching numerous entertainers do their thing over the years, I have seen many sound great, but then fa...

Turnout low in school elections — is that OK?I’ve used this quote before in describing runoff elections, but it’s even more appropriate for the upcoming school elections. The poet Carl Sandburg wrote, “Sometime they’ll give a war and nobody will come.” Each September in Arkansas, it could be said, “Sometime they’ll have an election, and nobody will vote.” Elections for school boards and school millages are occurring in Arkansas on Sept. 17, and turnout will be very low except in those fe...

Our 1-cent city sales taxWe need your support in renewing our 1-cent city sales tax. The tax was first passed and began collecting in January 2003 as a city 1-cent sales tax and expired on Dec. 31, 2007. The second renewal started collecting in January 2008 and sunsets Dec. 31. These funds were specifically earmarked for certain things such as streets and drainage improvements, city economic development funds and community enhancements. Numerous infrastructure improve...

For or against the 1% sales taxTheoretically, a vote for the continuation of the city sales tax, would appear to be the positive, progressive thing to do. No doubt, we definitely need to contribute funds for the improvements in the water and sewer system for compliance with the ADEQ Consent Administrative Order and before the EPA would take over our system. The aquatic center would be a nice addition to our city and provide many health and recreational opportunities for the...

Letters to the editor (Sept. 6 2013)Trouble with neighbors Yes, dear friends, it’s sad but true, the country is being governed by this concept. Also, it’s in our state, county, city and some neighborhoods. My neighbors property is being worked on to make the house livable and there are problems in their front yard that should be done to fix the encroachments to the front yard of my property. But they don’t seem to want to do anything to make amends, although I think its their du...

Little ‘free’ libraryMany years ago, I heard the late Earl Nightingale make a statement about reading I have never forgotten. He said we should read for pleasure and also read for profit. More about this further down in the column. Those of us who try to be well informed know literacy is one of the major factors in a nation’s success and an individual’s success. In short, we can’t accomplish much of anything in our society if we can’t read. It is tragic to know mo...

Campaigns, press enter new eraTo see how the relationship between campaigns and the press is changing, look at recent events in Arkansas politics. First, there’s Tommy Moll, a Hot Springs businessman who announced on Aug. 19 he was running for Congress in the 4th District as a Republican. He did this via news release, which is not unusual, but when a reporter with the statewide daily asked to speak to him, his spokesman, Peter Somerville, said he was busy talking to suppor...

Reader mailbagOccasionally I receive feedback from you — my dear readers — regarding a column I have written. Whether the emails are positive or negative, I consider them the highest compliment that something I wrote evoked a reaction strong enough for you to take time to express your feelings. I thought it might be fun to take a look at a couple. I did change the names and content a bit to protect identities. Edward from Van Buren commented on the column,“...

Dear Mark: I am a DuckheadDear Mark OK, you got me; I have a guilty pleasure called “Duck Dynasty.” Contrary to what many of you on the left might believe, Fox News is not the only channel allowed at the Levy household. We actually don’t watch a lot of television, but when we do, the now famous Robertson family from West Monroe, La., has us hooked each Wednesday night. In case you’ve been hiding under a bald cypress the last two years, “Duck Dynasty” is a quasi-realty ...

Spending behind your mate’s backA little infidelity, a little cheating, is OK in a marriage — or even protective of it — if the sneaking is just about money. Note the emphasis on “little.” Take handbags. Some time back, The Wall Street Journal reported on a woman who kept a secret stash of cash so she could buy very expensive handbags without disclosing the prices to her husband. “He just wouldn’t understand,” was her explanation. And he probably wouldn’t have. Men in my exp...

37 convicted killers await fate on Arkansas’ ‘Death Row’While Arkansas officials grapple with the methods of execution in Arkansas, 37 convicted killers languish on “Death Row” in the Varner Supermax Unit at the state Department of Correction prison near Grady, 28 miles south of Pine Bluff. It’s no country club, of course, but it is a life of sorts that seems to be the preferred alternative to the death sentences hanging over these 37 prisoners, all male. Most of them continue to fight to stay aliv...

All that over a drink refill. Really?I was updating The Courier’s website, www.couriernews.com, one of my nightly chores in the newsroom. The phone rings. It was a good friend and former work colleague who was going through the Arkansas River Valley on Interstate 40 and wanted to stop in town and eat some dinner while watching college football. Good gravy, who would turn that down? He asked me where the best would be to meet. Uh-oh. If I am anything, it’s not a local restaurant c...

Letters to the Editor (Aug. 31, 2013)U.S. government supports Islam Our government has supported the overthrow of secular governments in Libya and Egypt in order to install Islamic governments. It is trying to do the same in Syria. Why is this our government’s policy? Islamic governments do not allow freedom of religion. Their law is Islamic law, not constitutional law. Their goal is the destruction of Israel and Christianity. Our government’s support of Islam became public under...

Common Core now common to every studentIt’s August, and ninth and tenth graders across Arkansas are being introduced to high school. Meanwhile, their teachers are undergoing their own sometimes difficult transition to the new Common Core State Standards. Initiated by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Common Core has been adopted in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Arkansas schools first implemented it in grades K-2 in 2011...

A plethora of great tipsAbout 20 years ago, my late wife Viola and I moved from Mayflower to Conway and built a new home. It is a most unusual home because we built it using landscape timbers. A part of the move involved building me a home office, where I could record my daily radio program and where I later began this newspaper column. A part of the design was building the office above the garage, and this meant having outside steps because Viola made it clear that ...